Is there life after a KXR? Help

If your budget is $10K, why not buy a used KX-R. You should be able to get one for $12K or less.

If you go with a CJ Art II, the ACT2, or the CT-5, I am sure you will not miss the KX-R terribly. Or you can get the Audio Research REF3, LS26 if balanced is your thing. All of these are super sounding zero negative feedback designs.

However, the tricky thing for me with any of the above options is that all of these preamps have too much gain for my situation. That should not be an issue for most.

As an aside, since you have tried both the KX-R and MX-R's, why did you decide to keep the MX-R's and sell the KX-R. Did you consider keeping the KX-R and selling the MX-R's ? The MX-R's could be replaced with the K1-XE.

Cpk, thanks for the correction. What I meant is replace the MX-R's with the V1-XE.

Mike,

did you compare your MX-R's with Lamm's ? You mention that you have heard a lot of gear over the years, and I am wondering if the Lamm's happen to be one the amps that you have auditioned.

Mike,

not all Lamm's are tubed. In fact if I remember correctly, the Lamm Ref 1.2 are hybrid amps, where the tubes are present only in the input stage (small signal tubes), and the output stage is SS.

Should be interesting to compare the Lamm's against the MX-R. I personally would rather own the MX-R's simply because of aesthetics and convenience. The Lamm's are very big and run very hot.

However, I have to say that I have never, ever, ever heard anyone say that the Lamm's don't sound good, or are dry, etc. That has to be some kind of a record for any amp. Search through the archives, and forget about hearing bad things about Lamm's...you will not even hear anyone say that the Lamm's were outclassed by some other amp.

Mtdking,

you certainly seem to have auditioned a lot of equipment. I am curious as to which amps you have settled on for the moment.

Also what are your thoughts on the Audio Research Ref 110

Thanks